[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 139 (Wednesday, October 7, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S11647]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, in the midst of all the confusion and 
anxiety of the last week, we are going to be asked to vote on the 
confirmation of three judges that I think should be looked at very 
carefully.
  First is the nomination of William Fletcher to the Ninth Circuit 
Court of Appeals. Groups are in opposition due to a Law Review article 
in which he stated that judicial discretion trumps legislative 
discretion when a legislature fails to act.
  Presently, Fletcher's mother is sitting on the Ninth Circuit, which 
is historically the most liberal and activist court in the United 
States. Over the last 3 years, the Supreme Court overturned the Ninth 
Circuit more than any other.
  In a book review, about which Mr. Fletcher was questioned before the 
committee, he stated that political circumstances outweigh a literal 
reading of the Constitution. In short, the Constitution is what Judge 
Fletcher says it is. Judge Fletcher is an extremist and should not be 
confirmed.
  Nomination of Richard Paez to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals: In 
an outrageous ruling in 1997, Judge Paez ruled that an American company 
could be liable for human rights abuses committed by their partners in 
another country.
  Paez has shown a bias against religious and conservative groups. In 
one of the most publicized cases Paez heard as a District Judge was the 
1989 trial of Operation Rescue leader Randall Terry. Paez became upset 
with some of the pro-life language Terry used and ``stormed off the 
bench.'' Additionally, he angrily warned the defendants that their 
Bible would be confiscated if they continued to wave or consult it.
  While a sitting District Judge, Paez gave a speech at UC-Berkeley's 
law school in which he called California's Proposition 209 an ``anti-
civil rights initiative.'' In that speech, he also said, ``legal action 
is essential'' to ``achieving the goal of diversifying the bench.'' He 
characterizes himself as a ``liberal.'' Judge Paez is an extremist and 
should not be confirmed.
  Lastly, and briefly, the nomination of Timothy Dyk to the Federal 
Court: While in private practice, Mr. Dyk, successfully fought the 
FCC's ban on indecent programming to protect children.
  He has sat on the board of People for the American Way, and while 
working as an attorney for People for the American Way, he successfully 
defended a county school board that forced students to read materials 
their parents believed violated their deeply held religious beliefs. A 
member of Mr. Dyk's legal team called the concerned parents ``somehow 
less important'' and said ``the enemy was really not'' the plaintiffs 
``but [Rev. Jerry] Falwell.''
  I believe that Mr. Dyk is also an extremist and should not be 
confirmed in his nomination.
  I yield the floor.

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